by Cree Storm
“But what if…?”
Shaking his head, Elijah quickly said, “No one is going to force you into anything ever again, Spencer. We have been through that once already with Chantal, when he and his goons took over this clutch. Hron runs this clutch now, and with Petree by his side, there is no way in hell anyone will force you into doing anything. Now let’s just wait and see if you’re even pregnant. Maybe it’s just a stomach bug or something, and it will pass.”
“Shifters don’t get sick, Elijah, and I am a sloth shifter, remember?” Spencer said, with a snort.
Shrugging, Elijah replied, “Well there’s always a first time for everything. So let’s just wait and see and if you’re definitely pregnant, we’ll deal with it just like we did everything else… together.”
Spencer nodded and sat back thinking about what Elijah had just said. The man was right. Spencer, Elijah, Petree, Mason, Abe, Bryant, and Chad had been through hell.
Spencer had come to the clutch to visit his only friend, Nug, at the time, when the clutch had been attacked. Chantal had killed Tamale and his inner circle, and Spencer had shifted into his sloth form in case he was found, so he would have his claws if he needed to defend himself. Most didn’t know that a sloth shifter had venomous claws almost like a snake’s fangs, and if Spencer were to slice into an enemy, they would die a slow and very painful death.
He had tried to remain hidden in Nug’s closet. It was dark and scary. Every little sound had Spencer on edge and terrified. He had heard the enemy that had attacked the clutch house talking, and knew they were ready to kill anyone not of their kind.
Spencer had drunk from the faucet in the bathroom when he knew no one was around, and Nug would slip him food when he could, but then Nug had disappeared. Spencer had waited as long as he could before hunger became so bad, he knew if he did not feed he would soon shift back into his human form, because he wouldn’t have the energy to maintain his shifted form. It was in the kitchen that Spencer had been discovered and captured before he could shift.
His time in the cells was the most painful and horrific time in Spencer’s life. He had been beaten, raped, and practically starved. He couldn’t remember how many times he had thought about just giving up and taking his own life, but it was Elijah and the others being held that had kept him from doing anything stupid. Petree had done all that he could to help them by taking on the brunt of the abuse, causing him to lose his beautiful butterfly wings in the process. Spencer would do anything to have been able to bring them back for the little Nakaka. Next to their offspring, known as chickpeas, wings to a Nakaka were what they coveted the most. Their wings were their pride and joy, and Petree would forever be without them. He had sacrificed them for Spencer, Elijah, and the others, as well as his clutch.
Petree had explained how Madame Pele and her mate had come to him in the world of in between. That was where one went when they were between life and death. He had been given a choice between passing on, or coming back and bringing back Viatas, as well as the possibility of children once more, but it didn’t come without sacrifice, and that meant no more wings for Petree.
When Spencer and the others had told him how sorry they were for what had happened to him, and especially for the loss of those beautiful butterfly wings he used to have, Petree told them that what had happened was the fault of Chantal and his goons… no one else. When Spencer had said he would have understood if Petree had chosen death, Petree had hugged him, saying he didn’t regret his choice, and would do it again if asked. Doing what he could for them and his people, was all the reward he needed, or wanted.
Spencer could almost laugh. If it weren’t for what Petree had done, Spencer wouldn’t have found himself in the position he currently held. Throg wouldn’t be his mate, and Spencer wouldn’t be sitting here waiting to discover if his piss was going to show positive or negative.
“Okay, it should be ready. If this shows positive, I’m going to run some bloodwork just to confirm,” Caden stated, as he went to check the results.
Spencer thought he might puke. This shit was nerve racking. Even though Spencer highly suspected what the results would be, to hear it said out loud would make it a reality. Was Spencer ready for that? No. He wasn’t ready. He needed to get the hell out of here. The last thing Spencer wanted was for Caden to confir—
“Yep. It’s positive.” Caden said, coming towards Spencer with a needle and long rubber thingy.
Blinking in confusion when Caden wrapped the band on his upper arm, Spencer asked, “Wha… what are you doing?”
Everything was fuzzy. He couldn’t breathe. Spencer’s mind wasn’t working right. Was his heart even beating?
Clear thought was a myth at the moment for Spencer. Nothing was making any sense. Everything and everyone was gone at this moment. Sounds were kind of heard, but the words being said didn’t make sense. Flashes of light like strobe lights on a dance floor were the only thing Spencer could see right now. Well, that was until his world went black.
CHAPTER 3
“Shit! Shit! Shit! Is he alright?” Elijah asked frantically.
Nodding, Caden laid Spencer on the bed the man had been sitting on, “Yeah. He just fainted.”
“Fuck, Caden. You’re sure he’s alright?” Elijah asked, sounding as panicked as he felt.
Nodding, Caden checked Spencer’s pulse and used his stethoscope to check his heart, saying, “I promise, he’s fine. I think it was just a panic attack.”
“But he knew. I mean, he’s the one that told me he was pregnant,” Elijah insisted.
Again Caden nodded, “Yes, but sometimes confirming what you know is just as devastating as finding out something by accident. It’s like his brain and body came together at the same time, and it sent him into overload. Thinking it, and discovering it are often two very different things.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” Elijah stated gruffly.
Caden sighed and started wrapping the rubber band around Spencer’s upper arm, “Think about it like this. You smell gas in your house, you think you have a leak, so you call someone. They come in and say, “Yes, you have a leak.” Now you know for sure and want nothing more than to get the fuck out of there. Spencer knew, but nothing was certain until that test was run. Hearing his thoughts confirmed, made everything very real to him all at once and it sent his brain into overload, so his mind took a break.”
Spencer was pregnant. He was going to be a father. The shock he felt had to be nothing from what Spencer must have been thinking. “So, what can we do to help him”
Shrugging, Caden replied, “There isn’t anything we can do right now. He’ll wake up soon enough. I’m drawing blood to do a second test, just to make sure we didn’t get a false positive and then we seriously need to talk about bringing Peth in.”
“No. You heard Spencer, he doesn’t want Peth or any of the others to know. I won’t go against his wishes like that, Caden,” Elijah insisted. Damn, he needed his mate right now. He needed to feel Khall’s arms around him and do what he did best, calm Elijah’s inner soul.
Songbird is everything alright?
Elijah couldn’t help but smile. Just like his Viata to sense something was wrong with him. Gods, he loved that man. “I’m okay. It’s just… I can’t tell you… well, I promised… damn, I need you right now, but I can’t…”
“Where are you, my songbird? I’ll come to you.” Khall stated.
“I love you my warrior, but I gave my word and…”
“There are no secrets when it comes to our Viatas, everyone knows this. Now where are you? You need me and I need to see you’re safe for myself,” Khall insisted.
Knowing his mate like he did, Elijah sighed and hoped Spencer would forgive him, but he really did need his warrior with him right now. “The infirmary.”
“The infirmary? Are you ill?” Khall anxiously asked.
“No my warrior, it’s not me. It’s… I’ll explain when you get here,” Elijah softly replied.
; “We need to contact Hron, Elijah, or at least Peth. I don’t know shit about Nakaka pregnancies, and Spencer is going to need more help than I can give him,” Caden stated firmly.
Shaking his head, Elijah replied, “Not without Spencer’s okay, Caden. I know he’s going to need stuff, but he has to be the one to say it’s okay. I won’t go against my word to him, no matter what I think, or you think is best.”
“If that baby is going to stand a chance in hell of surviving, we need Peth in on this. You know I’m right,” Caden said, through gritted teeth.
The door flew open and Khall rushed in, immediately taking Elijah in his arms, “Songbird.”
“Let me get this right. I can’t talk to Peth, a Nakaka doctor about Spencer’s pregnancy, but you can tell your mate?” Cade snapped.
“What?” Khall gasped, his eyes wide as saucers, “Spencer’s preg… how? Who? I didn’t know shifters had the ability to become pregnant.”
Elijah replied, “I don’t know about all shifters, but Spencer is a sloth shifter, and his kind normally can’t.” Elijah turned to his brother, hissing, “Great job, Caden. I hadn’t told Khall anything, but that I needed him in my arms. You, however, just did, and you can explain to Spencer how my mate knows something that you promised to keep secret.”
“Well, how the hell was I supposed to know you hadn’t said anything to Khall? It isn’t like shifter mates don’t tell each other everything… at least, that’s what I’ve been told. It goes right up there with making sure that said mate is always happy and safe,” Caden grumbled.
A low moan had all three men looking down at Spencer. His eyes slowly blinking open, “Wh…what happened?”
“You passed out when Caden told you about the baby,” Elijah explained, as he went and hugged his friend, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I...” Spencer’s eyes widened, “You told Khall? What the fuck, Elijah?”
As Spencer sat up, Caden quickly said, “He didn’t tell Khall, I did, and it was by accident. I thought Elijah had used his mind-talking thingy with his mate and told him. So I said some things, and well, there you have it.”
Spencer looked at Khall. “I won’t tell you the father’s name. I don’t care what you say or think, I won’t tell you.”
“Uh, Spencer...” Elijah tried to break in.
Ignoring his friend, Spencer kept talking. “I know this is a big deal to your people and everything, but I know he never intended to impregnate me. Neither of us even gave it a thought, and besides, it was a one-time thing and…”
“Uh, Spencer…”
Again Spencer ignored Elijah, “Nakaka father or not, I won’t have the guy feeling forced to be with me, because of a baby, so you can take your questions somewhere else, because I’m not going to even give you a clue.”
“Spencer!” Elijah shouted, finally shutting the man up.
“Are you telling me this is a chickpea?” Khall gasped.
Elijah groaned and smacked his hand over his face.
Spencer asking, “A what?”
“A chickpea. That is what we call a child of a Nakaka,” Khall explained.
“I already said that,” Caden grumbled.
Spencer looked to Caden, “Well, excuse me for not remembering. Besides, I thought you told him about the baby?”
“I did. I just didn’t tell him it was a Nakaka child you carried,” Caden explained.
“Oh,” Spencer whispered uncomfortably, then asked, “I don’t suppose there’s any way we can forget what I said just a bit ago, is there?”
Khall shook his head, “No.”
Sighing heavily, Spencer said, “I can’t deal with this shit right now. I’m not telling you guys who the father is, and I…”
“You’re sure the father is Nakaka?” Khall asked.
Spencer’s brows drew together, “What? Are you trying to say that I’m some kind of slut? That I go sleeping around with just any guy? Tell me, Khall, who the fuck else could be the father? The only other shifters in this place are like brothers to me and that’s just eww. I haven’t been off this island you call home, since I was taken into the cells when Chantal and his goons took me, and besides… I don’t sleep around.”
Tossing his hands in the air, Khall quickly said, “That wasn’t what I was saying, Spencer. It’s just a lot to wrap my mind around. Nakaka cannot produce a child by accident. We have glands in our tails…”
“Yes, I know. One that’s for mating, one for lube, and one for reproduction. I know all that, but it doesn’t change the facts, and you’re having trouble wrapping your mind around all this. Try being me,” Spencer huffed.
“So what are you going to do?” Elijah softly asked.
Spencer looked at Elijah in confusion, “What do you mean what am I going to do?”
Gods, Elijah hated to ask this question, but it had to be answered, “I mean, are you going to keep it?”
“I’m not aborting my baby! I can’t even believe you’re asking me that,” Spencer hissed.
Elijah pursed his lips, “I didn’t think you would, but it had to be asked, besides, you could still have the child and give it up for adoption or something.”
Spencer gasped, “Are you crazy? I’m not doing that to a little innocent baby. This baby is mine, damn it. I may be freaked out thinking of how the thing is going to be born and all, and I might not have ever planned on being a parent, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it.”
“Tell me, what do you know about raising a child, Spencer?” Caden asked.
“What do most first-time parents know about raising a baby? Most of them read a crap ton of books, thinking they got this, and then when the reality of the child is in front of them, they don’t have shit. Then again, why would the books be right when they’re written by people that never even had a kid, but then instinct kicks in, and the next thing they know, they’re raising that baby the best way they know how. I know I’ll make mistakes. I know that I might even regret being in this situation a time or two, but what I won’t ever do is regret my choice on keeping this child. He or she is mine, and damn it, this child is going to know, without a shadow of a doubt, no matter what the future holds, no matter what mistakes I make, he or she is loved.”
“And when they ask you about their father? What then, Spencer? Are you going to tell them who he is?” Khall asked, sounding angry.
“Khall, it’s going to be alright,” Elijah whispered softly, as he caressed his mate’s back trying to calm the man down.
Shaking his head, Khall rapidly responded, “No it isn’t okay! Two hundred years we have waited for this miracle. Two hundred years couples have yearned for a chickpea to be born, and when the time comes that the gods have finally blessed us, Spencer refuses to acknowledge the sire of that chickpea. Whoever he is has a right to know. The people in this clutch have a right to know. Spencer has the ability to bring hope into our world once again, and because of his ego, he refuses to even offer that much. It’s wrong, Elijah. You know it, Caden knows it, and if Spencer was willing to admit it, he even knows it.”
Spencer shook his head, “This has nothing to do with ego. I’m sorry, Khall. I won’t tell you who the father is. He doesn’t want me, and I will never, ever be one of those that uses a child to get their man. I just... can’t.”
“You can’t know that, and besides if he knows about the chickpea… if he…”
“That’s just it. I don’t want him to want me because of the baby. The man knows I’m his mate, and he won’t have anything to do with me. Our getting together was a mistake. At least, that’s what he called it,” Spencer whispered painfully.
Khall replied, “Maybe he was just shocked at what had happened. You said that neither of you planned on having sex. Maybe…”
Shaking his head once again, Spencer remembered the day they had come together. It had been explosive. One second they were fighting, and Spencer was having a hard time controlling his lust and need for his mate, which pissed him off, so Spencer did what he alw
ays did... he said some smartass comment, and the next thing he knew, Throg had Spencer pinned to the wall, and they were kissing, as if it was the last day on this earth and they would never get the chance again.
Throg pulled back, ripped Spencer’s shirt from his body, “You keep poking the bear, amans.”
“Maybe I want to see if the bear will poke back,” Spencer said with a hiss, as Throg undid his pants and pushed them down.
Throg flipped Spencer around and pinned his hands to the wall, leaning in close to his ear, whispering, “I plan on poking you real good. Now don’t move those hands. You keep them right there.”
Spencer’s heart was about pounding out of his chest, as he listened to Throg undo his own pants. Within seconds he felt the man’s hands holding his ass cheeks apart, as something began to penetrate his hole. It took a minute to realize that it was the man’s tail.
Throg leaned in once more, “I’m gonna stretch you, and then fuck you. It’s what you want. It’s what we both want.”
“Yes! Do it! Hurry damn it.”
Throg moaned as he rubbed those thick callused hands over Spencer’s chest and licked his throat, exactly where the mating mark would go. Gods, how Spencer longed to have those teeth deep inside his skin, marking him for all Nakaka and shifters to see. For them to know that Spencer was his, and when Spencer bit into him, they would know that Throg was his.
“Gods be damned, I can’t control myself! I need you. I need you now!” Throg said.
Spencer hissed, when one second there was a thick tail filling him and stretching him, and the next thing he knew, he had what could only be described as a tree limb being pushed into his ass. “Holy shit!”
“Relax, amans. Relax and let me in,” Throg hissed, as he pushed past the tight rings, and moved that huge cock in as far as it would go.
Spencer yelped and drew in a sharp breath at the burn, but didn’t stop Throg as he began a fierce pounding into Spencer’s ass. The pain turned into pleasure so fast, Spencer almost couldn’t keep up, and soon his moans of pleasure were joining the sounds of slapping skin and heavy breathing.